Changing the conversation about addiction

A short while ago I heard a radio commentator remark about the latest celebrity to “crash” and head for rehab. Certainly, it’s always hot news when a person of national repute falls prey to addiction. What made this commentary interesting to me was the commentator’s take on the situation. He said, in essence, that people suffering from addiction just do not get much respect or support. It’s all about the bad behavior and poor choices that leads to incarceration, alienation or rehab. And often, the rehab facilities themselves are viewed as more country clubs than environments dedicated to recovery and hope.

The truth tells a different story. In 2009, drug and alcohol overdoses and brain damage linked to long-term drug abuse killed an estimated 37,485 people, surpassing the 2009 toll of traffic accidents by 1,201. At the end of 2011, according to the World Drug Report, the number of fatalities from illicit substance use increased to more than 44,000. To put this in perspective, approximately 39,500 women died from breast cancer in 2011. Yet the clamor for solution to drug addiction is still in its infancy.

Sadly, it occurs to me how often the conversation about addiction, whether it’s substance abuse, gambling, overeating and or other addictive illnesses, generates negative and/or dismissive commentary. The focus is on the behavior, which can range from well-hidden to, more commonly, disruptive, disheartening and criminal. Sure, there’s some mention along this path that drug and/or alcohol addiction is a disease, mental or physical. But the conservation often quickly dismisses the health aspect of addiction and dwells on the behavior. Sympathy and understanding are not terms that immediately come to mind.

The result of this, it seems, is that addiction is most often looked at as a criminal matter or one of choice rather than a health issue. It’s easy to see why. All too often we hear about violence connected to the drug culture, particularly the horrific power of the cartels to the south of us. We are also confronted by the battle in our own urban and rural communities about illicit and drug trade and use, as well as the surging abuse of prescription drugs.

Since 1977, hundreds of thousands of individuals suffering from addiction have passed through the doors of McAlister Institute, and not one of them – not one – has chosen to become an addict, any more than a person chooses to contract cancer or heart disease. A true, deliberate conversation which focuses on substance abuse as an illness and emphasizes recovery and hope for addicts, family, loved ones, business associates and the community at large is long overdue. As of Jan. 1, underage drinkers seeking medical help will no longer have to fear charges under a so-called “good Samaritan” bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. The law aims to save the lives of overdose victims by shielding them and those who would come to their aid from drug charges. It decriminalizes the possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia when seeking medical assistance for an overdose, as long as the substances are for personal use. This is an important start, but it’s just the introduction to a deeper and more important conversation.